I noticed something that may have been a mistake or mean something. Future Ted tells the kids "and that's how Robin met your mother." Wasn't she referred to (by Future Ted when he was talking to the kids) as "Aunt Robin"?

Future Ted referred to Robin as "Aunt Robin" in the first episode. This is the twist ending of the pilot.

He later refers to Marshall, Lily, and Barney as "Uncle Marshall" Aunt Lily" and "Uncle Barney" innumerable times throughout the series.

I take it to mean (now) that these are terms of affection rather than indicators of any relationship by marriage to Ted's or the Mother's family. (Of course, it's easy to say that as we didn't know for sure through most of the series. With only a one-hour/two episode broadcast to go, I'm fairly confident about it now.)

Random thoughts:

Holy moly! The Slap Bet came back in true form, and it was useful! Way to go, Marshmellow!

Also: the final narration from Future Ted works really well, not only here in the space of this episode but also to us, the audience from the show. Just like the poker scene in "All Good Things..." on TNG, this was HIMYM's way of giving us a thank you for sticking with them all these years, before we go on one last adventure with the gang again:

Future Ted said:
Kids, I won't lie...that was a long weekend. More ups and downs than I can count. It was a twisting, turning road that led to the end of the aisle and not everything along the way was perfect. To be honest, not everything to follow would be perfect either...but what is? Here's the secret, kids...none of us can vow to be perfect. In the end, all we can do is promise to love each other with all that we've got...because love is the best thing we do. And on that lovely spring evening, that's exactly what Barney and Robin vowed to each other...and it was legendary.

As we enter the final week of the show, I just found the 2nd draft pilot script... Very interesting. About halfway through it right now. While the framework and a lot of the character beats are there, there are some differences. The biggest thing is Marshall is a hypochondriac.

I noticed something that may have been a mistake or mean something. Future Ted tells the kids "and that's how Robin met your mother." Wasn't she referred to (by Future Ted when he was talking to the kids) as "Aunt Robin"?

Click to expand...

When Lily met the Mother at the beginning of this season, did Future Ted say: "And that's how your Aunt Lily met your mother?" Because if he did, than 005 is correct and it wasn't a slip on the part of the writers.

It's not sloppy writing. I should have probably been more clear earlier by what I was trying to say.

Yes, Future Ted calls Marshall "Uncle Marshall" often in the series when describing events in whatever story he's telling. Ditto Barney and Lily and Robin.

Just because Future Ted has called Robin, Lily, Barney and Marshall by their names with the preceding "Aunt/Uncle" most of the time, it doesn't necessarily mean he's going to call them that every single time he's referenced them in his story.

This is like the tiniest needle in a haystack kind of thing to fixate on guys.

Yeah, I don't see how it's sloppy writing or how it could have been a mistake (or any sort of hint). Future Ted has used the uncle/aunt epithets for everyone in the group numerous times throughout the series, but he's also simply referred to them by their names, without the epithets, quite often as well.

When talking to my kids about my sister, most times I use "Aunt," but every once in a while, I'll just use her name.

My parents always referred to my godmother as "Aunt," even though she, like Lily, Robin, and Marshall, is not related to me by blood. Again, my parents will often just refer to her by her first name.

And we have always been given the impression that Ted's story is being told continuously. It would be more odd to drop the "Aunt" in the same telling of the story in which he used it as a sign of things to come, rather than an honest omission.

I'm a few episodes behind, but I watched this week's installment yesterday. I didn't find anything to complain about.

As for the aunt/uncle thing, in my family there are several people of various degrees of relation with the same given names. When referring to one or the other in conversation, I will use "Aunt So&So" or "Cousin Whatchacallit" the first time, and afterwards just use the first name.

In my family we address our grandparents by whatever nicknames we gave them as children, but aunts and uncles by their first names. I never gave the lack of "aunt" in referring to Robin a second thought.